Dear Evan Hansen: Profound And Moving

The Tony Award winning musical Dear Evan Hansen is currently on it’s first UK Tour, and last night it stopped off in Wolverhampton, at the city’s Grand Theatre. It received a well deserved standing ovation for its portrayal of the death of a teenager, and how this is the catalyst for a misunderstanding that turns into an outright lie concerning another boy, the shy, mentally fragile Evan Hansen. The story takes in how a misfit can be almost canonised by early death, and how people can try to create new memories from fiction. It is smart, funny and devastatingly sad in equal terms, and doesn’t flinch from important questions. It is, in short, a masterpiece.

Evan Hansen struggles with life. He lacks confidence and social skills, is lonely, and struggles to interact with his peers. With his arm in a cast he returns to school after the summer, where a chance encounter with the troubled Connor Murphy leads to an incident that changes his life forever. The night after the encounter, where Connor finds a letter that Evan had been writing to himself as part of therapy, Connor takes his own life, with Evan’s letter still in his pocket. Connor’s parents believe that their loner son had a friend after all, and seek to bring Evan into their lives so they can understand their son better. Evan becomes caught up in this story, which is made more difficult as Connor’s sister Zoe is his ultimate crush, and helped by his ‘family friend’ Jared, emails are created that track the ‘friendship’. Evan becomes popular, and a someone, for the first time in his life, but as the lie escalates and Evan achieves national fame due to a viral video, it can only end one way.

As Evan Hansen, Ryan Kopel is astounding. He portrays all the angst and pain of being an awkward, painfully shy teenager suffering with his own crippling mental health in the dog eat dog environment of High School. He is ably supported by the very funny Tom Dickerson as ‘family friend’ Jared, and Olivia-Faith Kamau as go-getter Alana Beck, an acquaintance who becomes a ‘friend’ but may just bring the whole house of cards crashing down. Lauren Conroy is lovely as Zoe, clearly showing her pain and confusion over the death of a brother who is now portrayed as someone she didn’t know, whilst Killian Thomas Lefevre is just brilliant as Conner, who becomes the voice in Evan’s head, leading to a devastating revelation that literally floors the audience. The adults are also very good too, with Alice Fearn perfectly illustrating the struggles of Evan’s mother Heidi, trying to juggle making a living with supporting a son she adores but who is clearly troubled. Helen Anker as the grief stricken Cynthia Murphy and Richard Hurst as Connor’s stoic dad Larry are perfect in their portrayal of grief and anger over the death of a son they didn’t really know or understand.

This is a beautifully written piece of theatre, with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Pasek has said that this is inspired by the death of a boy in his own school, and how people acted in the aftermath, which does give the story a resonance that makes it always seem real. The brilliant ‘You will be found’ scene is beautiful and moving, but is also very pertinent today as we debate the power of social media to share a story, as it is also sharing a lie, but a lie that helps so many people.

Dear Evan Hansen is a beautiful, powerful piece of musical theatre. It is a modern day classic that needs to be seen.

Dear Evan Hansen at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre until April 5th

Click here for ticket information

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